‘We Were Apparently Too Quick To Embrace EVs’

Hard to believe it’s been over a decade since Porsche took the wraps off the Mission E concept. The company’s first indication that it would later enter the EV segment arrived in September 2015 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Four years later, the production-ready Taycan made its official debut at the same event. Reflecting on the car’s arrival nearly seven years ago, the company’s boss now claims it may have been launched too soon.

German magazine Auto Motor und Sport organized a panel featuring the leaders of Germany’s most important automakers: Volkswagen Group, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche. The subject of electrification inevitably came up during the discussion, and the man in charge in Zuffenhausen reflected on the Taycan’s timing.

In hindsight, Michael Leiters believes Porsche was “apparently too quick to embrace electric mobility,” suggesting the Taycan arrived before people could fully appreciate its potential. He went on to say the company considers itself a “pioneer in e-mobility” for launching the electric sedan toward the end of 2019.

Taycan Sales Are On A Slippery Slope

As the numbers show, Taycan sales haven’t been strong over the past couple of years. Not only that, but 2026 isn’t shaping up to be any better. Deliveries of Porsche’s inaugural EV fell 19 percent in the first quarter to just 3,420 units.

On the flip side, the electric Macan is performing much better, with shipments reaching 8,079 crossovers through March. Nevertheless, the gasoline-powered model remains the more popular of the two Macans, with 10,130 units delivered, despite no longer being sold in Europe since mid-2024 after failing to comply with an EU cybersecurity regulation.

Porsche Will Continue To Spend Money On EVs

During the panel, Porsche’s head honcho announced that investments in EVs will continue. As previously revealed, electric versions of the Boxster and Cayman are still on track. The three-row SUV positioned above the Cayenne will launch first with combustion engines and hybrid powertrains, but EV variants remain part of the plan.

It’s worth noting that Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume, who was sitting just two chairs away during the event, was appointed Porsche CEO only weeks after the Mission E concept was unveiled in the fall of 2015. At the start of 2026, former Ferrari CTO and McLaren CEO Michael Leiters succeeded Blume as Porsche’s top executive.

Porsche Commits To Gas Engines

Elsewhere in the lineup, the first-generation Macan is going out of production this summer, with an Audi Q5-derived replacement carrying a different name due in 2028. It will offer gasoline engines and plug-in hybrid variants, which will also remain part of the Panamera and Cayenne lineups well into the 2030s. Additionally, the combustion-engine 718 sports car duo will return after production ended late last year.

As for the 911, it has already received the hybrid treatment, but Porsche won’t go any further with the electrification. Leiters ruled out a pure EV. Instead, Zuffenhausen wants to secure the car’s future with cleaner combustion engines and hybrid technology to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations.

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Source: Porsche

Motor1’s Take: Whether the Taycan arrived too early is debatable, given that several EVs were already on the market at the turn of the decade. The reality is that Porsche overestimated the pace at which its customers would transition from combustion engines to electric motors.

In early 2022, Porsche projected that EVs would account for more than 80 percent of its annual sales by the end of the decade. But last year, purely electric vehicles represented only 22.2 percent of its total sales volume. With a renewed emphasis on combustion engines, that end-of-decade EV target is no longer in place.